The Mute Shinobi
by Quick-n-Popular
Summary: AU. After a devestating seven-long year civil war, Konoha picks itself back up and begins to slowly heal. One day, a Chuunin discovers a boy. Mute and with only one good eye, it's decided that he'll be trained as a ninja. Naru/Kure, not a pairing.
1. Kurenai's Discovery

**The Mute Shinobi**

By Quick-n-Popular

Disclaimer: Naruito isn't mine. Original characters are, though.

Chapter One: Kurenai's Discovery

Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves. A proud village known for its powerful shinobi and inspiring leaders. Many had viewed the village as the beacon for others to follow as it held within it, as what its third leader called "The Will of Fire", a powerful presence and a strong will to guide and help those in need.

Konoha had survived many things. Disputes, power-struggles, and still remained prosperous. However, things seemed to have changed after the death of its fourth leader, the Yondaime Hokage. The appearance of the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox, had almost brought the village down. It was the Yondaime's charge and defeating the beast that had brought peace once again to the village. Sadly though, the problems didn't stop there.

It had all began a week later with the death of a civilian council member at the hands of a shinobi.

Before then, after the sudden death of its Sandaime; the council of the village was in the midst of electing a new Hokage to rule the village. Once the discovery of the murder was made, many of the civilian council members demanded the perpetrator to be brought to justice. The shinobi was never found and it was then that the citizens anger rose.

The once great village soon found itself divided.

It was divided by those who supported the citizens' demands to bring the shinobi responsible to justice and for all shinobis to be held accountable for their actions against the citizens of Konoha, while the other part felt that shinobi shouldn't be questioned in their actions, that they were above the citizens' laws. They claimed that the village could very well run without the aid that the citizens provided, which only furthered the turmoil in effect.

Protests soon rang out against the Anti-Citizen Support members. Death threats were made, public slanderings turned into civil unrest, and then deaths. It was the death of a Pro-Citizens Support family by the order of the leader of the Anti-Citizens Support faction, Danzo, that began civil war in Konoha.

For five long years fighting had began all throughout the once peaceful village, deaths were numerous, and many homes and business lost in the carnage that took place. Then, it all stopped with the death of the Anti-Citizens Support faction leader Danzo. With his death, the power and motion of his group dissipated and the group itself announced defeat.

In the aftermath that followed, clans had soon began to divide amongst themselves in allegiance with Konoha and soon many had disbanded from the village and vacated to other places. Konoha, on that day, had lost its two most powerful clans: the Hyuga and the Uchiha.

A majority of the citizens had left as well and soon Konoha had become a pale shadow of its once glorious self.

In the midst of healing, three clans, reluctantly, brought themselves to rule the once powerful village. The Nara, the Akamichi, and the Yamanaka found themselves the head leaders of the village. The Abarame and the Inuzuka in support and with control and with only a sparce few citizenry left in Konoha.

In this, Konoha had begun to heal itself.

Our story begins two years later.....  
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Kurenai Yuhi, Chuunin, had just been relieved her her guard duty at the gate, much to her relief. The weather, in this day of June, had become hot and unbearable. Though, not as hot as it would be in Suna, it still left much to be desired.

After saying thanks and goodbye to Genma Shiranui for relieving her, she slowly made her way into the village.

In the midst of her travel, she looked around and smiled at the continuing relief effort being made by both shinobi and citizens alike to try to bring their village out of the darkness it once was in. The buildings still showed signs of the Kyuubi's attack that happened seven years ago. Kurenai felt it was a shame that these efforts weren't made in time before the civil war that had broke out and more destruction happened around the village.

Kurenai sighed as she thought back to that awful event. She had been only a fresh Genin at the time when the village broke out into the two seperate factions. Many of her friends had broke their bonds with each other due to their families support of one or the other faction. Kurenai herself, and her mother, remained neutral and had isolated themselves from being involved in the terrible outcome that followed. It seemed absurd to her as to how everything happened before the deaths. So many lives thrown away for petty reasoning. One of those lives had been her mother, unfortunately.

Kurenai shook her head, trying to put aside the painful memory as she continued to glimpse at the relief efforts being made. It still amazed her of there no longer being any animosity between the remaining shinobi and citizens. It was mostly due to the fact that the five remaining clans in Konoha were either neutral or supported the Pro-Citizens Support at that time. Under the main Nara, Akamichi, and Yamanaka's reluctant rule, the citizens that decided to stay felt that the village's once large, vast, majority of power was really the cause of the initial problem in the first place. The Clans only having a certain amount of power now, with their primary focus being on the rebuilding of homes and buildings; the remaining citizens, now, have a more positive view of the shinobis. Although, whether or not they felt secure with their presence like they once had, remains uncertain.

As a result of the other clans departure, along with a vast majority of the citizen populace; the Fire Daimyo had removed his support of the village. With the Hyuga clan pulling from Konoha and going to serve him, he seemed to not see any need of the village as he once did. Thus, without his financial support, Konoha was left to fend for itself. Only a handful of shinobi were sent to paid missions outside of the village while the remainder stayed to held with the rebuilding. It seemed, at least to Kurenai, that the main idea was to regain the support of the remaining citizens and to rebuild itself.

Konoha was still in a state of healing two years and a half years after the other major clans, along with the lesser ones, had left Konoha.

Kurenai was walking back to her home, hoping, maybe, to see her friend Anko at her favorite dango shop and, just as she was about to make her abrupt change in direction, something stopped her.

From the corner of her eye she had spotted something irregular in the alleyway to the left of her. A bright, yet, dirty patch of blonde hair bobbing up and down in a dumpster that belonged to a restaurant on the corresponding side.

Curiosity overcoming her, Kurenai approached it and stopped three feet from it. In front of her, she saw, in the dumpster, a young boy, most likely between the age of five and ten; scourging through the heaps of garbage that filled the bin. He stopped when he reached a plastic bag, which he opened and pulled out a molding melon rind and began to eat it, ravenously.

Kurenai looked upon the seen with disgust. Shen approached closer and called out.

"You know that's going to make you sick, right?"

The boy immediately froze and turned slowly towards her. It was then that Kurenai's eyes widened with surprise and a little bit of horror.

The boy, whose hair was matted and crusted with grime and dirt; had his right eye sewn shut poorly, dried puss being evident and swelling due to improper care, and had a small, thick, scar on his neck. Another interesting feature was that he had three visible birthmarks on both cheeks which seemed to almost resemble whiskers.

Kurenai blinked. 'What happened to this child?'

She began to approach closer, her hand extended out. "Hey, are you-" She never got the last words in as his hands went into a familiar sign and soon a cloud of smoke covered over him and was soon replaced by a bag of garbage

'A kawarimi?! Who is this kid?' She thought and looked around. She heard a door nearby closed and set off in the direction of where she heard the noise. His footsteps echoed through the abandoned tailor shop of the store and then another sound emanated when he had opened another door that led outside.

Going as quickly as possible, Kurenai, once outside, could see his form retreating into yet another building. she recognized the building instantly as the weapons depot where she used to buy all her weapons when she was a Genin. This too had been abandoned during the civil war and she knew that there were no other exits other than the entrance itself.

Going on inside, she was amazed as how the once heavily itemized store had been reduced to an empty broken state. The windows were broken, light shimmering in through the many broken panes giving a ghastly glow due to the residual dust that accumulated in the air above. Kurenai coughed a bit when entering, the dust being so abundant. Looking about, she saw that the boy had made this his shelter as there were many rotting, discarded, vegetables and fruit lying about the floor. The stagnant stench was almost as over-powering as the dust itself and Kurenai had to held a hand to her nose and mouth to avoid retching.

Scanning the area with her red eyes, she found the door to the room occupying the store to the metal shop slightly ajar. Proceeding cautiously, she walked to it and opened it. Inside where the various sharpening machines used by the owner in the past. The room was small, yet warm as an unseen generator was still powering the machines, thus giving the room an abundance of warmth.

Kurenai heard a rustling of sheets and turned to her immediate left to see the boy she was looking for huddled on the floor underneath a machine with some cloth tarps, looking at her with unbridled fear with his one eye.

Kurenai squatted down in front of him, hoping both to give off a calm demeanor and to also prevent him from trying to escape again.

"Hi." She said, smiling. "My name's Kurenai Yuhi. What's yours?"

The boy looked at her with suspicion and wide-eyed fear. He didn't answer but merely gurgled something incoherent.

Kurenai looked toward the scar on his neck and wondered it the injury had made him unable to speak. She sighed and looked around.

"So, this is your place, huh?" To her surprise, this got an answer as he immediately nodded.

Exhaling a sigh of relief of being acknowledged, Kurenai smiled again and looked about once more then back to the boy.

"Are you here by yourself?"

The boy nodded, again.

Kurenai nodded as well. Taking closer looks around the boy's makeshift area, she noticed there were many books lying about. Some were shinobi related. Books on chakra form, manipulation, and utilization. Others were on handsigns, beginner stealth practices, history of Konoha and the shoinobi world, etc. What was most intriguing was that these books were academic books handed out to students when the Academy was still in progress.

Krenai pointed to the books. "May I take a look at them?" She asked.

The boy eyed her carefully before nodding.

Kurenai nodded and thanked him before picking up one of the books and opening the flap to the student signature ownership page. She had a feeling that whomever this boy either belonged to, or who had raised him, had most likely given him some tutelage in the shinobi arts prior to his being left to hold out on his own. There was no way, at least in Kurenai's mind, that he could have simply learned by reading all of these books without personal instruction.

The first book she held had the signature "Saigu Rin" on the flap. Again, asking for his permission and then getting it, she looked through the other books and found the same signiture in all, "Saigu Rin".

Kurenai sighed. So she was right, the boy had been trained for some time by a shinbobi. But yet, who was he? The easiest answer she could come up with was that he was an orphan made by the civil war. Yet his bright, albeit dirty, blond hair left him in either relationship with the Yamanakas or some other clan. As far as she knew, the Yamanakas were the only clan who had this type of color yet his was more brighter, closer to a yellower state of blond rather than the platinum kind of theirs.

Kurenai knew, by duty, she was responsible to bring all orphans and, especially, all people who have shinobi skills that haven't been documented, to the Clan Heads. However, she didn't even know where to begin as to persuade the boy to willingly to come with her. Yet, she knew she had to try. Worst case scenario being, she'd have to overpower him and bring him in unconscious.

Before speaking the matter, she decided to try to be friendly and see if she could at least get him to trust her.

"Do you have a name?" She asked.

The boy cocked his head to the side like a bird observing something. He then turned away from her and begin digging into the pile of things behind him. In a moment he had produced a tattered, mouth-eaten baby blanket. He handed it to her.

Kurenai looked at him curiously, about to inquire as to why he had given this to her, when she noticed a monogrammed stitching on the top hem that was a name in kanji.

"Naruto?"

The boy smiled and nodded.

She smiled. 'So his name is Naruto, huh?'

"Well, Naruto. Again, my name is Kurenai. Tell me, have you been by yourself for very long?"

The boy nodded.

"Since the Civil War?"

The boy looked down and nodded.

So she was right. He was a war orphan. "Was, Rin Saigu, your mother?"

Naruto looked up at her and then off to the side. He looked as though he was thinking about how to answer but in the end nodded.

'Well, its answer at least. It may or may not be true.' Kurenai thought. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "Naruto, if I asked you to come with me, would you?"

Naruto's head shot back to her, his eye wide. It then went down into a contemplative state as it seemed he was observing her, searching for anything that wasn't truthful in her features or something that implied false or harmful intentions. He then looked to the floor and closed his eye. He looked back up again and slowly nodded.

Kurenai let go of the breath and smiled. She then extended her arm out to him and he took it. Once out from under the table, she got a better look at him. His hair, like before was indeed a mess. Malnutrition was evident as his ribs were showing and due to poor exercise his limbs were thin. However, his demeanor seemed optimistic and, as far as she could tell, the Yamanakas would be better in finding out more; his mental health seemed to be alright.

"Well then," Kurenai said, "If it's alright with you, Naruto, why don't we get you some clean clothes and something a little more better to eat. Are you still hungry?"

Naruto's face seemed to brighten and he nodded.

Kurenai nodded as well and directed them out of the weapons shop and out into the world outside.

To be continued....

A/N: This is an idea of mine and depending on interest I'll see how many more chapters I can crank out. I'm basically going to be making a lot of changes as in this alternate universe a lot has changed compared to the cannon. How lived after the civil war and who had died, characters stories, and all of that; will be a big challenge. But hey, I'm creative and I like a good challenge. As far as pairings and all that, I'm leaving that up in the air until later on in the story.

Please read and review.

Next Chapter: A Troublesome Piece Missing from the Puzzle.

Q-n-P


	2. A Troublesome Piece of the Puzzle

**The Mute Shinobi**

Chapter Two: A Troublesome Piece to the Puzzle

Before setting out to get something to eat, Kurenai wanted to make Naruto presentable. Their first destination was to the medical nin's building.

Upon arrival, many of the Med Nins were shocked as to the appearance of Naruto and the poor condition he was in. Though, through a quick scan, it appeared that, other than malnutrition, there wasn't anything particularly wrong with him. Through the scanning process just over his stitched-up eye, it was revealed that Naruto had undergone a quick ocular inoculation. Some medical 'wizard' replaced the eye by, painstakingly, tightly winding Naruto's chakra coils around his eyes into the center that they resembled a tiny ball of yarn to keep the socket from sagging and misshaping. Due to this invasive, radical, haphazard way of fixing the absence of his eye; it rendered the tissue and muscle surrounding his socket swollen and thus without an expert medical surgeon, of the same bizarre genius; it would be impossible to reduce the swelling in the area. There was no immediate danger due to the swelling, but for appearance sake, it would "look" better . In the end of their examination and study, the med nins decided it'd be best just to use some skin graft and heal it and the eyelid to the bottom of the socket and heal the general area. The other major concern, Naruto's vocal chords, was untreatable. Due to years of no treatment or observation, it was concluded that the damage was permanent and that no remedy or treatment could fix it.

Kurenai, in the end, thanked them and then took Naruto to a bathhouse to get cleaned up. At first, he was a little resilient. Kurenai then suggested that the two of them could go to the unisex section if he needed company, to where he blushed and shook his head. After almost an hour, both emerged from the bathhouse with Naruto much cleaner and his hair now clean and slightly damp. From here, she took him to a local clothing shop and got him the basic clothes to both be presentable at a restaurant and, she hoped, presentable to the Clan Heads of the village. She also took the opportunity to get him an eye patch to cover the spot over his eye for either comfort or convience purposes.

To both Kurenai's surprise and relief, when, at the restaurant where she took Naruto to eat at, revealed to him that she needed to take him to meet her superiors; there was no objection from him. Well, at least none that she could see outright. When she first told him, he merely looked down with a contemplative look on his face and then looked back up and shrugged right before giving a small smile.

Kurenai smiled in return. When the two of them had been served, as she had suspected, the boy nearly ate her meal as well as he, ravenously, tore through his meal, side dishes, and the thin complementary wafers that the restaurant gave. Normally she would have given a apologetic look to everyone for her friend's behavior, but not now. It amazed her, in thinking, how long it may have been since the boy has had a proper meal. It took about five main course dishes to fully satisfy him completely.

Kurenai smiled when Naruto took the napkin on the table and dabbed at the corners of his mouth and then gave her a smiled and titled his head appreciatively towards her.

'Good to see he has some manners about him.' She thought.

Upon careful observation, Kurenai concluded that Naruto, who had been alone for quite some while, how long was beyond her; was extremely enjoying himself in the attention she was giving him. There were times where he was hesitant but yet he was happy enough and trusting of her as of now.

A sudden pang of sadness rose in her as she considered what the council may decide to do with him. It was her duty to bring all youths capable of performing the shonobi arts to the Clan Heads as to determine whether or not that they were remnants of the Anti Civilian Support faction left over since Danzo's demise and the faction's dissolvement. Either that, or there was the more recent worry of spies from neighboring or distant villages trying to find gaps in the new security to finally bring down the Village hidden in the Leaves.

Kurenai wanted to believe with all her might that this poor boy in front of her had absolutely no connections to any of those. Yet, logic settled into her and she had to remind herself that their was a distinct possibility that he could have been related or associated with one or more of those members, and there could be a possibility that he could be a plant from another village. However, what their influence on him would not be known until the Yamanakas had a look into his mind.

Sitting at the table, the two of them enjoying the tea in front of them, their heads shifted when the sound of childish laughter came in from the entry of the restaurant as three children came running in, two of them chasing the remaining member.

Kurenai carefully observed Naruto and noted, as she had thought, the look of longing yet hesitance on his face. Kurenai wondered if there was ever a time where Naruto engaged in any kind of activities with children his age. Of course, one could reason that due to his lifestyle, that THAT had probably driven away any encounters. She pitied him more and more the more she saw the longing look on his face with the hang-dog expression. Kurenai sighed and then looked to the clock adorning the wall and sighed even deeper.

"Naruto." She called out to him to get his attention. Once she had it, she continued, "We'll need to get going to meet with the Clan Heads, alright?"

Naruto nodded numbly, his expression unchanged from when he had observed those children playing.

Kurenai took his hand and led him out the restaurant after paying for their meals.

Walking to the old ANBU Headquartes, which now served as the meeting room for the Clan Heads; Kurenai looked to the dilapidated tower that joined it that once was the Hokage Tower. A suicide nin, his body covered in high powered explosive notes, covered head-to-toe, had sealed the fate of that once impressive building six years ago, a year after the civil war had started. Lately, arguments had been passes around the leading clans as to whether or not the Hokage Tower should be included in the recovery and restoration plan. Other than the resentment the citizens held toward that particular site, there was also the usefulness of the issue. So far the old ANBU Headquarters seemed to fulfill the needs for the Clan Heads, so the rebuilding of the tower didn't seem to be a real high priority or a necessity. However, the nostalgia and the sentimentality was there. The Akamichi and Abarame were adamant about its restoration, but the the others clans were either against it or had mixed feelings. So far no conclusion could be made.

Kurenai and Naruto passed through the door-sized opening which used to be a door fused with chakra to resemble just an outer wall to confuse possible infiltrators. Kurenai nodded toward the man posted outside who nodded in turn to her and gave Naruto a curious glance. Kurenai chuckled when Naruto mimicked her earlier greeting to the next sentry they passed.

Climbing an ascending spiral stair case for two levels, they reached the third where they turned through a series of passage ways before finally reaching the end and stopping at a set of double doors where a woman with pink hair behind a desk was writing notes. Dressed in a Chuunin vest with two jeweled studs glinting from her ear lobs, she looked up at them with a warm smile.

"Ah, Kurenai! Come here to give your report?"

Kurenai nodded, "That and...well..." She looked down at Naruto and smiled.

The pink haired woman did as well and she did a double take between the two of them and their hands held together.

"Whose the boy?" She asked.

"Naruto. I found him after the ending of my shift."

The woman nodded before looking directly at Naruto and giving off a warm smile. "Hi there, Naruto. My name's Haruno Risa. It's nice to meet you."

Naruto nodded and looked away.

Risa turned back to Kurenai. "Shy?"

Kurenai shook her head. "I don't think that's it, Risa. Unfortunately, Naruto's a mute, so you'll have to excuse him."

Risa's eyes turned a saddend expression toward Naruto but her warm smile remained.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Naruto turned back to her, slowly, and gave a shrug.

"You know Naruto," Risa began, folding her hands under her chin as she leaned onto her elbows on her desk, "Maybe when you're done here, I can introduce you to my little sister Sakura. She likes meeting new people and you'd be able to meet her other friends as well. How does that sound?"

Naruto looked at Risa with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. He closed it and he nodded as a bright smile emanated from his face.

Risa too smiled bigger than previously. She looked to Kurenai and grinned. "Well, for a lack of words, Naruto sure 'speaks' in volumes with that smile, don'tcha think?"

Kurenai chuckled and nodded.

The mood shifted when the doors opened and a man stepped out prompting Risa to remove herself from her desk and the two and entering the room. Seconds later, she reappeared, her head popping out between the doors.

"They're ready for you two."

Naruto's mood changed from happiness to apprehensiveness and nervousness as he audibly gulped and squeezed Kurenai's hand hard.

Kurenai looked down at him and gave him a reassuring amile and returned the squeeze. "It'll be alright, Naruto."

He nodded reluctantly and let her lead him inside. Going through the doors, they entered a spacious room where three long tables had been set up in a horse shoe-like set. Behind the tables were numerous people, all of different variety in appearance and gender, While the two side tables facing each other were comprised of people who seemingly looked of the ordinary as they had no hitae-ates, The table of people facing Kurenai, Naruto, and Risa were the ones who had the headbands.

Four men and one woman sat at this table, all of them conversing between eachother in low voices. Upon coming into closer proximity with them, their heads turned to the arrivals and their conversations then ceased.

"Kurenai, good to see you. I trust your station this morning was uneventful?" Said a man with dark glasses donning his expressionless face.

Kurenai formally bowed and nodded. "It was, Abarame-sama."

He nodded and then raised his eyebrows as he looked at Naruto. "Who have we here?"

Kurenai nodded and put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "His name is Naruto. You'll have to forgive him for his unresponsiveness as he's, well, a physically incapable of speaking."

The Clan Heads, with the exception of Shibi Abarame, gave wide-eyed expressions but most, seeing the scar on Naruto's neck, gave a nod.

Seeing that and the eyepatch overing his eye, raised a lot of questions in their minds as was evident by the expressions they had.

"What happend to him?" Tsume Inuzuka asked with a tone of concern.

Kurenai gave the council everything she learned from her meeting with Naruto and what she learned with her 'interview' with him in the abandoned weapons shop and the books he held in his possesion.

"My guess is that this "Rin Saigu", who might have been a relative or caretaker of him, most likely trained him in the shinobi arts prior to what ever happened to her." She finished.

The Clan Heads had saucer-like wide eyes as to the mention of the name.

"Rin?" the heavy set Clan head, Chouza Akamichi, whispered as he looked to the other two on opposite sides of him. "As in Kakashi Hatake's old teammate, who disappeared, Rin?"

The others on the council had looks of astonishment toward the association. Kakashi Hatake, to both the nins and the civilans had been looked on as a hero to the Civilian Support Faction as it was him who had assassinated the Anti Civilian Support Faction's leader, Danzo, and thus ended the civil war in the village before being killed as well by an ACS member.

Naruto seemed to fidget under Kureai's hand as all the eyes in the room went, uncomfortably, onto him.

The man to Chouza's left, a man with a pineapple-like hairstyle with a stubbled face, closed his eyes and breathed in before focusing his eyes on Naruto and then, after a moment, onto Kurenai. "Did you find any other evidence other than the books collaborating what the boy told you of being raised and trained by Saigu?"

Kurenai sighed and shook her head. "Not really, no."

The man, Shikaku Nara, nodded and then looked over to the man sitting on Chouza's left. The man, whose hair color was similar to Naruto's though lighter and more of a platinum variety, stood up and walked around until he came in front of the council and in front of Kurenai and Naruto. The man squatted down in front of Naruto who seemed to was fidgeting a little more than before.

The man tried to give a reassuring smile as he addressed the boy. "Hello, Naruto. My name's Inoichi Yamanaka. I want you to try and relax as I peer into your mind. It will not hurt, I assure you. I just want to get to know everything about you, if that's alright?"

Naruto was still exhibiting a look of apprehensiveness and a smidge of dread. He looked up to Kurenai for guidance.

Kurenai squeezed his hand, which hadn't left her hand.

Naruto gulped and then turned back to the man and closed his his eyes as he then nodded.

Inoichi nodded as well before putting the palm of his hand onto the boys head and then closed his eyes....

When Inoichi opened his eyes, to his surprise, he found himself in a place he hadn't expected to be.

With most people's minds, even those who were disturbed, the place seemed to always be centered in a setting with an abundance of other sounds and lights. Naruto's was a place resembling a dank sewer where the only sound was the dripping of water followed by eerily whispered screams. As expected, as with all nins who've found their chakra core and released it in order to develop chakra coils throughout their body, lines of the chakra flowed like little trickles of flowing water down the walls. It was here that Inoichi walked up towards and placed his hand against them and let the flows swarm over his fingers. Closing his eyes once more, his own mind flashed with foreign images. Chakra always retained the memory of its owner's viewings from once they were born to the day they died. Inoichi began with the images of the beginning of Naruto's life.

Looking through Naruto's eyes, he saw a beautiful red haired woman gasping, dewed with sweat all over her face, smiling at her newborn son. Unfortunately, her eyes seemed to then roll back into her head and others, med nins, rushed to her and Naruto's body was lifted off of her and was cradled into the body of another. When Naruto's eyes looked upon this new individual, Inoichi gasped.

He was looking at the face of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

_"Well, we better going, my Naruto."_ His face became sad yet serious. _"Our destines await."_

A series of sounds and colors flashed by before Inoichi could see that, while Naruto was still in the arms of the Yondaime, the two of them were in a position much higher in the air outside. Then it all became apparent as the horrible image of the Kyuubi could be seen out of the corner of Naruto's eye.

'Dear Kami...what are these things I'm seeing through Naruto's eyes?' Inoichi wondered as his own mind was filled with confusion. He knew nothing of a child being with the Yondaime when he died after killing the nine-tailed demon fox. Deciding to continue watching as opposed to be overwhelmed by questions and miss anything vital.

One of the Yondaime's hands left and then the demon fox in front of them seemed to stagger and struggle with its footing before it collapsed. Then, to Inoichi's amazement, the boy of the Kyuubi swirled and the form of the Kyuubi had gone but the energy-like swirl came closer and closer to the two of them until Inoichi watched as Naruto watched as it slowly went into a seal on the flesh of the boy's stomach. Naruto cried out of pain and distress before calming a little afterwards. He then looked up at the Yondaime who held onto him tightly as the two of them fell head-long toward the ground.

The Yondaime, still holding Naruto tightly, looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

_"Well, Naruto." I....I guess this is it, kiddo."_ The Yondaime, then began coughing up heaps of blood. _"M-My son....You'll....be a hero in their eyes....I know you will."_ Then with an exhaled gasp, the Yondaime's eyes closed and he died.

Inoichi, forcibly, left Naruto's memories and staggered back before catching himself on the opposite wall, his eyes wide and his mouth wrenched in a deformed state of shock. This revelation was not pleasant. Not by a long shot. This boy, Naruto, held somewhere in him the Kyuubi no Kitsuni and was. seemingly, the son of the late Yondamie. If one was harder to believe, the last one blew the other out of the ballpark.

Inoichi took deep breaths. No matter how troubling this revelation was, he still had a task to preform and was obligated to recover as much of Naruto's memories as possible to make sure he wasn't a threat. Now knowing what lay within him, it seemed prudent to get all the information he could. Inoichi walked back up and put his hand back on the flowing chakra and closed his eyes once more.

Through Naruto's eyes Inoichi picked up where he left off. Naruto lay there and seemed to wail in distress as the glimpse of his father's form was in front of him. Then, he was elevated high into the air and was wrapped up in another pair of arms. These were feminine and then a face appeared. A young woman with rectangular marks on her cheeks with a kind smile on her face, shushed him soothingly as she rocked him back and forth. Inoichi instantly recognized her as the teammate of Kakashi Hatake. This was Rin Saigu.

Rin continued to try and calm the distressful Naruto until his cries subsided and his breathing became regular. Rin continued to stay in the same place, never moving, with Naruto cradled in her arms. A moment later, though, another form appeared. Through Naruto's eyes, Inoichi saw the appearance of a man who stopped in front of Rin with a dagger in his hands. Inoichi, once again, looked on in trepidation.

In front of him, through Naruto's eyes, he was looking at the civilian councilman whose death caused the civil war that ripped Konoha apart.

To be continued....

A/N: Sorry to end short, but its late and I need to make some more notes before I finish up this portion of the plot. Hopefully everybody can see as to what's develop and how it'll relate to the regular cannon as to what's going to be hidden from Naruto as he gets older and what may transpire with the villager's treatment of Naruto. I'm still up in the air about that. I may make it similar but not completely reminiscent of that. I don't know.

A/N II: Please read and review.

Q-n-P


	3. For his Sake and the Village's

**Chapter Three: For his Sake and the Village's**

Rin held Naruto tightly as her other hand, shakily, went for the spare kunai on her left side.

The councilman, Namikuru Gohei, held his dagger firmer as his eyes narrowed at the bundle in Rin's arm.

"Why are you protecting that….thing?"

Rin scowled.

"He's not a _thing_, he's Naruto. A boy, an innocent boy whose been tasked by the late Yondaime himself to hold the Kyuubi inside of him. So, Councilman Namikuru-san, if you know what's best, please lower that dagger."

The councilman continued walking forward, his eyes never leaving from Naruto's form.

"That is no longer a child. I don't care what you fools might think. That ceased being a child when the Kyuubi inhabited it and now it's a mockery of life." He paused about ten feet away from Rin as he looked up at her. "Families have been lost because of this monstrosity, shinobi. Lastly, it's claimed the life of a child. So, for the late child's sake and the village's, the Kyuubi must die while it's in its weakened state."

Rin Held Naruto even tighter and in the other hand, held her Kunai with a firmer grip.

"Take one more step and it'll be your last, councilman." Rin said, darkly.

The councilman, surprisingly, showed no fear or hesitation by Rin's warnings. He approached closer, his stance steady. His eyes remained narrowed but his mouth contorted to a snarl as he shouted.

"THE BEAST MUST DIE!!!" He, then, leapt forward, the dagger extended back; as he tried to close the gap between them and be in striking distance of Naruto in Rin's arm.

Rin, calm but riddled with anger, in one quick motion; laid Naruto down on the ground, sidestepped the councilman, and then buried her kunai in his neck.

The councilman flailed around like a gutted fish, flopping and gasping until he finally gave a final twitch before stop moving entirely.

Through Naruto's eyes, Inoichi watched Rin breathe hastily as she clutched her bosom. She then looked about worryingly before turning back to Naruto before slouching down and picking him up, cradling him. All the while she looked around worryingly, still, and voiced her concerns loudly.

"Where's the Hokage? Where are the ANBU?"

Inoichi, remembered the answer. Shortly after the Kyuubi's dismissal, Danzo and the Sandaime's two advisers held an emergency conference which had the Sandaime occupied. Inoichi remembered, suddenly, how the Hokage seemed to be in a very visible fit of having to attend that meeting.

Going back to the images, Inoichi watched as Rin waited for a little while longer before sighing and looking down at Naruto.

"Well, I guess it's just us, right now." She looked around before turning to the bundle in her arms. "Let's get you indoors, before someone suspects something." She then turned in the direction of the fallen councilman. "So nothing like _him_ comes after us."

Inoichi continued to watch as the events unfolded. The Sandaime's sudden death due to illness, the discovery of Councilman Namikuru's body, and the sudden pang of separation amongst the leaders in the support for the civilians in the village. All through Naruto's eyes, he watched as Rin was seen having many arguments with various people that came to her house while she took care of Naruto. He watched as she defended their home while some took to attacking her on her doorstep. Then, the worst happened.

When Naruto turned four years old, Rin was walking with him in the park at a time during the day when it seemed safe to take your child out. The two were halfway to the park when three men came out in front of them, blocking their path.

Rin tightened her grip on Naruto's hand as she looked at the two men, narrowingly.

One of the men, all three wearing Hitae-ates, came forward and crossed his arms.

"Who do you support, Kunoichi?"

Seeing as there was no familiarity between them, as often was the case in Konoha, at the time; Rin's eyes seemed to narrow further to the point of squinting.

"The Citizens need our support and we need theirs. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take Naruto here to the park."

"We can't let you do that." Said one of the other men behind the one who addressed Rin, his hand going for his kunai pouch.

Rin looked at him in surprise. "You'd attack a fellow shinobi of Konoha? Has this pitiful little dispute gone that far?"

None of the three men spoke to either confirm or deny what Rin had asked. The only look on their faces was unbridled determination.

Rin sighed as she looked down at Naruto, who looked fearfully between his surrogate mother and the men who were advancing slowly.

"Naruto," She said, softly. "I want you to go and hide in that alleyway there. Don't move until I come and get you, you understand?"

Naruto looked terrified but nodded, reluctantly as his little body began to scurry to the empty alleyway. He then hid behind a garbage bin as he watched from the side. His whole body was shaking, as was indicated to Inoichi as the vision slightly obscured around the edges now and then.

Rin took out a single kunai and got into stance as the three men advanced on her. Crouching low, she put her left leg out and then leapt up from her right as she spun in mid-air delivering a kick to the side of one of the men. With her kunai, she blocked a blow coming from another that attempted to attack her from behind. Raising her leg up to the side of her head, she hit the man behind her and brought her kunai back in front again to deflect three shurikens that had been thrown at her.

From Naruto's position, Inoichi could tell that Rin was tiring quickly from physical exhaustion. Yet to use any chakra, she seemed to be defending herself as her pursuers were launching their frontal attack. Then, one man skidded to a stop and the other two leapt away from Rin. They formed a triangular formation around her. Then, all three began running through hand signs.

Rin attempted to get out of the line of fire by moving towards one of the gaps in the formation, only to have one of them men appear in front of her and deliver a devastating kick to her stomach, sending her back to where she once was.

Groaning, by the time she got up, the men had finished their hand signs.

(AN: Sorry for a lack of translation)

"Fuuton: Devastating Squall!" Two shouted, releasing a huge gale of wind from their mouths.

"Kaaton: Volcanic Maelstrom!" The last said, as fire came shooting out of his mouth in multiple balls the size of a human's head.

"Kaa-san!" Naruto shouted and ran, but then tripped in his attempt to get to Rin from where he was hiding. From his fallen position, in tear-strewn eyes, both Naruto and Inoichi watched as Rin gave Naruto a sad smile and mouthed 'I love you' before being engulfed by the flames mixing with the winds surrounding her.

Naruto crumbled to the ground in a mixture of horror and grief. Crying Rin's name over and over again until he became hoarse.

Inoichi could only feel immense sadness for Naruto, wishing with all his might that he had been there to prevent that tragedy. However, it seems that this scene didn't end yet, as the three men soon came upon Naruto shrunken, tiny, form; all looking down on him.

"We're sorry." One said. "This is war. Someday you'll understand."

Naruto seemed incapable of responding as he was rocking himself back and forth, whispering Rin's name over and over.

One of the men took out a kunai and walked closer to Naruto.

"Daisuke! What are you doing?" One of the men spoke to the one armed.

"What else? Danzo-sama ordered all of us to leave no witnesses as this _is_ war."

"He's not even a shinobi!" One of the others said.

"Not yet, anyways." Daisuke responded. "Still, he's been raised by one of those 'Citizen Support' traitors. He could become a problem to Danzo-sama's cause in the future."

The other two looked skeptically at Naruto, whose attention was now on the men.

"Just be quick about it, will you? We'll meet you at ANBU Headquarters." The other two then vanished, leaving a now quivering Naruto and an unemotional Daisuke.

Daisuke moved to get Naruto when Naruto got to his feet quickly and tried to run. Daisuke, then, reappeared in front of Naruto and again lunged for the boy. Naruto got under his grasp and desperately crawled his way between the man's legs but found a pivoted leg sweeping and knocking him off of his feet and falling face-down to the ground. Naruto rolled onto his back and scuttled, pushing his feet out to back away as Daisuke came closer. Naruto pushed himself up off the ground and twisted his body as he prepared to run again, all the while calling out for somebody, anybody, to come help him. Surprisingly, no one was in the area to hear Naruto's plea.

Daisuke, once again, reappeared in front of Naruto and this time he attack low.

Naruto stopped upon seeing Daisuke and, seeing the blade coming, tried to turn around in an attempt to flee the other way. The end result was the blade catching and digging into Naruto's neck, vigorously.

When the blade came out, forcibly by Daisuke's hand, Naruto twisted and writhed on the ground making a gurgle-like scream as he held his neck which was bleeding profusely. Naruto, while in his moment of unbelievable pain and terror, looked up at his attacker with terrified eyes.

Daisuke, with no emotion on his face from the small form's desperate pleas written on his face for mercy; brought his kunai back again , ready for the final, fatal, blow.

Naruto looked in all directions, still clutching his neck. He then saw an escape ladder that led to a rooftop. Looking back at his attacker, Naruto, with one hand clutching his still-bleeding neck; pushed against the ground with his other and twisted his body to head in the direction of the ladder.

"Enough!" Daisuke shouted. "I'mm tired of our little dance, boy."

Naruto, as he began to ran, looked over his shoulder, cautiously, yet fearfully, and watched as Daisuke brought out numerous other kunai and shuriken before throwing them at Naruto.

Naruto pushed his little legs harder as the sight of the ladder was like a beacon of light for him. Luckily for him, the aim wasn't that well made as the flying projectiles whizzed by his head. Naruto was breathing hard as his eyes widened in hope as the ladder was now coming into reach. He was almost there! He reached out with his hand and-

It was grabbed by the wrist and he was spun around as Daiske, then, brought his kunai straight into the boy's left eye. He then forcibly removed the weapon, dislodging the eye from its socket and for blood to come seeping out at an alarming rate.

Naruto gurgled more blood out of his neck in the replace of a scream as his other hand went to now hold over where his eye used to be. Then, all went black.

When Naruto's, eye, opened again, he was sitting on a bed in a house with two elderly women standing over him. A tray filled with cotton swabs, a sewing needle, and various other medical items lay.

Naruto looked around the room and then at the two women and attempted to talk to them, only finding it hurt to attempt such a thing.

Hearing the gurgle made by their patient, the two women smiled kindly as one sat on the foot of the bed in front of Naruto.

"You're safe now, young one." She said, kindly. "That Anti-Supporter is dead and you were brought to us by a group of the supporters."

Naruto nodded, dumbly. He then reached some shaking fingers to his eye before the woman stopped him.

She shook her head. "No, dear. Our friend did the best she could, but that eye will never work again." She finished on a sad note.

Naruto looked down, despondently. He then looked back up at the woman again and pointed to his neck where he got injured.

The woman sighed. "I'm afraid that will have to wait for that to heal and see."

Naruto nodded.

At this point, Inoichi watched more as events came more dire for the boy as the two elderly women he stayed with had their House become one of the many attacked and ransacked by the Anti-Support faction's onslaught. The two women were most likely not spared as many casualties, both citizens and shinoibi alike, were high. Naruto had been let out prior to their carnage on the womens' house, leaving Naruto to wander aimlessly before he found his way back to Rin's house which had been gutted of its valuables. Naruto came inside and went to his room where he found his baby blanket and Rin's jacket which he took the both of them before slumping down to the floor and curling into a ball. A single tear escaped his lone eye before it seemed sleep took him.

Inoichi pulled away. Be it either that he had all the answers he needed or the fact he was too distraught to watch anymore of what the poor boy went through; he felt he had seen all he needed.

* * *

Inoichi gasped as he came up off the floor to the people surrounding him in the Clan Counil Room. All eyes were looking at him expectantly.

He gave everyone a reassuring smile before looking down and the worried look on Naruto's, apprehensive, face.

"You're a brave little soldier, Naruto. I hope we can give you a better life than the horrors you experienced growing up." He ruffled the boy's hair, affectionately.

Naruto gave a small smile up at the man and then looked to Kurenai who smiled in turn before turning to Inoichi.

"So?" She asked.

Inoichi nodded to her before speaking loud enough to address everyone.

"The boy, is no threat to us. He is, instead, just one of the many tragedies that had, unfortunately happened in Konoha."

A round of reassured sighs escaped from many of the council, plus one from Tsume Inuzuka, surprisingly.

"Well, where shall he go now?" Chouza Akimichi asked, looking at the boy.

The room quieted as it was thought.

Inoichi, still standing with Kurenai and the boy, turned to the red-eyed Chuunin. "Kurenai? He knows you best and seems most comfortable with you. If it won't be a hassle, would it be alright if he remains in your care for the time being until a more permanent environment can be provided for him?"

Kurenai looked down at Naruto and smiled before looking at Inoichi. "You didn't even need to ask."

Inoichi smiled and nodded before looking two his two old teammates.

"Very well then." Shikaku Nara said. "Then, I believe, if there isn't anything more; the two of you are excused. Please give us some time before we can find Naruto a place to live, Yuhi."

Kurenai nodded and looked down at Naruto and gave a gently tug of his arm.

"Shall we get out of here so you can meet Haruno-san's sister?"

Naruto's eyes brightened as he nodded his head, earning a chuckle from Kurenai and some others before the two of them left.

* * *

Soon, all of the council, with the exception of the three Clan Heads left for the day to their homes. Inoichi took that time to tell his friends what he, reluctantly, withheld from discussing in open of what he saw in Naruto's mind.

Once finished, Shikaku held his head in pain and Chouza's mouth was gaped in what looked like horror and confusion.

"Is all of that true?!? Inoichi, you must be pulling a fast one!"

Inoichi shook his head. "I wish I were. As incredible as it may seem, all of what I told you came from Naruto's eyes since his birth."

Shikaku was silent, still holding his head as he felt a migrane coming from the information he processed.

That boy was an answer to many questions and yet had so many questions around him at the same time. Every positive he had was attached to a negative, yet nothing could be pinned on him as blame. He sighed.

"What do you plan to do, Inoichi?"

Inoichi leaned against the table, sighing, tiredly.

"What else? If anything else, for the sake of the village, the boy must live. He's not that Kyuubi as far from what I saw. True, the Kyuubi may be dormant inside of him, ready to awaken at anytime; but whose to say that it'll have any influence on him in any way?"

"Whose to say it won't?" Chouza argued.

Inoichi nodded but then said, "Can you see into the future? No? Neither can I. I must believe in the Yondaime's words that his son will be the hero of our village, holding the Kyuubi from breaking out and wreaking havoc once again. It's really I can hope for."

"The council will want to have his head. Especially those that remember the Kyuubi's destruction and were effected by it by loss of family." Shikaku commented.

"Then we won't tell them." Inoichi spoke out, a little too bluntly.

Chouza and Shikaku stared at him.

"What?" Chouza asked in disbelief.

Inoichi, still standing firm nodded. "We won't tell them." He repeated. "We've always had "S-Class" secrets that the Hokage has always held from the council. This will be one of those."

"That was then." Chouza argued, "This is dangerous, Inoichi. We're already on fragile understanding and cooperation from the civilians. If they find out we've kept something this big from them-"

"It'll be fine." Shikaku interrupted.

Chouza looked at the spiky-haired man. "Shikaku?" He asked in confusion.

Shikaku looked down at the table and sighed. "It's troublesome, but Inoichi's right about this. Yes, our cooperation and familiarities with the non-shinobi population is tender, at best. But, Chouza, think of what will happen if we did tell them of Naruto's past. How will they react to the fact that shinobi did this? That it was unmentioned to them? How do you think they'll react to the poor boy and to Kurenai when they learn the truth?"

Chouza opened his mouth to retort but then closed it and looked down at the floor, contemplating. He then gave a resigned sigh as he looked at his two teammates.

"So, we keep Naruto Namikaze's past a secret?"

Inoichi nodded. "Yes, we keep Naruto _Saigu_'s past a secret. After all, the boy must live. For his sake and the village's.

To be continued…

A/N: Again, sorry for the lack of translation. Thanks to all who've reviewed and please keep the comments coming!

Q-n-P


	4. The Daimyo's Ultimatum

Chapter Four: The Daimyo's Ultimatum

To Kurenai's surprise, she found an indescribable smell lingering in her house. Upon further investigation, she found its source to be coming from the guest bedroom she had set up for Naruto. Knowing he was in the bathroom getting ready to go to the Haruno's house, she opened the door to find the perpetrator for the horrendous smell that had made its way into her house.

Stepping halfway inside and scanning for the immediate sign and finding none, she walked inside and let her nose to be her guide. It led her to the closet which, upon opening it, she was met, full blast, with the smell she was dreading. To her surprise, whilst holding her nose and surveying, she found the smell to becoming from a pile of things in the corner of the closet. From first glimpse, she immediately recognized the old, mouth-eaten, baby blanket she had found in Naruto's little keepsake at the abandoned weapons shop.

Now, as to when he had the chance to get these things from when they arrived home yesterday after the meeting with the Clan Heads, she had no idea. Only coming up with the idea that he had made the trip sometime that evening.

Surprisingly, there were some additions to the pile she had originally seen at the weapons shop. Some being a weathered black jacket, an old Konoha hitae-ate, and most surprisingly a set of tonfas. Picking up the weapons, she could see that they looked brand new. Made of some metal and painted a deep obsidian color. A curled golden dragon was stenciled on the flat surface on both pairs. Curiously, there was a padded edge on both sides of both weapons. Upon further investigation, she found that it seemed that they were slid into place. She pulled on the edge finding it to slide out and she nearly dropped it in shock. Underneath the padding, concealed either for secrecy or for practice, were hooked, barbed, blades that ran down the sides. The blades were double sided; leaving no room for injury to whomever was unlucky enough to find themselves on the receiving end of the vicious tools. Kurenai gave a look towards the direction of the bathroom, wondering what reason Naruto could have to keep such deadly things. A sudden pang of motherly instinct wanted her to put these far out of reach of the boy, but, for some reason she felt content to let him have them to protect himself, if need be. With a resignated sigh, she felt too that somehow it may be for the best for him as most children in the village aspire to become shinobis and that this was a sign for what's to come for him. However, she had no idea if he knew even know how to use the weapons or not. An idea came to her mind to maybe have some people she knew to come and give him instruction in the future. Possibly Asuma Sarutobi as he was the leading weapons master the village has.

She put the offensive weapons aside and searched further until she finally found the offensive source of the smell. It was an old lunch pail and inside was a piece of decaying meat. Probably something he failed to get rid of and at the time saved for when he was hungry later, she could only assume.

Carefully disposing the decomposing meat, she heard the door open and a newly clean Naruto came walking out, looking at Kurenai expectantly.

She smiled. She was learning slowly how Naruto communicated with others sans speaking. Subtle facial expressions accompanied by either nods or shakes of the head would signify what he wanted or something of the likeness; facial expressions, more than anything. In some ways he behaved like a bird, observing everything from every angle.

Naruto was dressed in the plain white t-shirt and black shorts that Kurenai had bought for him yesterday. She even managed to find several eye-patches, ones with designs stitched into them such as Konoha's leaf emblem and others with kanji's for "luck", "Wisdom", and "Dare". Right now he was sporting the leaf emblem.

"Well," Kurenai said, her thoughts leaving her, "Are you ready to go to the Haruno's?"

Naruto nodded, slowly.

After their meeting with the Clan Council, Risa Haruno scheduled a time for the following day for the two of them to come over as it would also be a day where Sakura's other friends would be present and would give Naruto a chance to mingle with his other peers of both genders.

Taking his hand, she led the both of them out of the house and out into the semi-busy street. Naruto clung to her side fiercely as they walked down the street toward the east end where the Haruno's lived.

"It's alright, Naruto." Kurenai said softly and assuredly.

Naruto, either not hearing her or disbelieving her words, continued to hold tightly to her, his lone eye darting every way possible in suspicion.

Kurenai sighed. She couldn't possibly fathom what life was like for this boy during Konoha's civil war. She had her suspicions and had yet to have them confirmed by Inoichi. The Yamanaka Clan Head told her that he'd reveal all that he saw in Naruto's memories in due time; but from the look in his eyes it was apparent, to Kurenai that most, if not all, of her suspicions were confirmed.

In less than ten minutes, they had arrived at the Haruno's residence. Kurenai spared a glance at Naruto as they proceeded to the river rock lined pathway leading to the front of the house.

His eye was alive in wonder at the humble, yet impressive, property. His head swayed from side to side as he took in every aspect of the area of the residence, from the short-cut grass, to the clay-ceramic tiling on the rooftop. When they approached the front door, Naruto, once again, took on an apprehensive state as he knew they were at the end of their journey and he'd soon have to socially interact with people he didn't know.

Kurenai could only shake her head, mentally, at the poor boy's self-defensive state. He surely has missed out a lot on the good things in life due to that damn war.

Kurenai gave a reassuring smile to him as she squeezed his hand. Naruto, in turn, looked up at her.

"Ready?" She asked.

Naruto visibly gulped as he turned back to the door and gave a very slow nod.

Kuirenai nodded as well before turning to the door herself before using her spare hand and knocking. Later the door was answered and they were greeted by Risa Haruno.

"You're here!" She exclaimed, joyfully. She then stepped to the side and ushered the two of them in with a frantic wave of a hand.

Kurenai felt Naruto's startlment by Risa's actions through the tremor she felt from his hand. Once again giving him a reassuring squeeze, she led the two of them into the Haruno's house. Inside there were quite a bit of people gathered.

After closing the door, Risa knelt down to Naruto's level and smiled cheerfully at him.

"So, how've you been, Naruto?"

Naruto, after calming down and feeling a bit easier, reached for a pocket-sized note pad that he held in his pocket that Kurenai gave him and started writing on it. A moment after he held up the paper, which read: "I'm fine. Thank you for inviting me over. It was very nice of you."

Risa smiled as she tasseled his hair, affectionately.

"No problem, kiddo. Now, why don't I lead you outside so you can meet my little sister and her friends. They're currently playing "Ninja Wars". I'm sure Sakura will show you how to play it, alright?"

Naruto nodded slowly and looked up to Kurenai to see if it was alright.

Kurenai smiled and gave Naruto a gentle push to motivate him further.

"Go ahead, Naruto. I'm just going to be talking with the other adults about boring things. Go meet Sakura and the others and have fun, alright?"

Naruto nodded and followed a leading Risa through the house and to the back past the kitchen area to a screen door leading outside. Risa pulled the door open and soon Naruto was met with the sounds of children's laughter, shouting, and all in different tones and forms.

There were eight children about. A girl, looking like a shorter carbon-copy of Risa, was sitting on a swing set with two other girls, one having long blonde hair, a lighter shade than Naruto's; and a girl with her hair made into buns on top of her head. Across the yard were the boys who where huddled together. One with his hair made into a pineapple-shape, another who was a bit chubby with his hands stuffed inside a potato chip bag, and another who wore a fur-rimmed hooded jacket with red, triangular, clan marks on his cheeks. Between them and the girls were two other boys. One had his hands stuffed inside his pockets and wore shades and a jacket that hid his face below the nose. The boy next to him had a bowl-cut hairdo and an interestingly pair of bushy eyebrows. The two were looking expectantly at the three boys who were in a heat of discussion, every now and then looking over at the two boys who were between them and the girls.

"Hey, Sakura!" Risa called, diverting Naruto's attention from what was going on to her and then to the form of the smaller pink-haired girl who came over after being called. Everyone else in the yard turned their heads and looked on in interest as it seems they finally had noticed the newcomer.

Sakura came to a stop and looked at Naruto curiously before looking to her older sister.

Risa looked down at Naruto and smiled giving him a squeeze on his shoulder.

"This is Naruto Saigu. Naruto, this is my Nee-chan, Sakura."

Sakura beamed and bowed at Naruto and then looked at him curiously.

"Why do you wear that thing over your eye?"

Naruto took out his pad again and began writing as Sakura looked at him in confusion before asking,

"Hey, why don't you answer me?"

"Sakura," Risa said, slowly, "Naruto can't speak. He's had this problem since he was little. So, you'll have to be patient with him and wait till he talks to you in his own way."

Sakura nodded and waited until Naruto finished writing before turning his pad over and showing her what he wrote down.

"It's because my other eye doesn't work. I'm sorry that I can't speak. I had a bad thing happen to me when I was young. I can't speak because of it."

Sakura nodded.

"What 'bad thing' happened to you?"

Naruto looked down and then licked his lips before shaking visibly.

Risa squeezed his shoulder again and sighed before looking to Sakura.

"Sakura….It happened during the civil war."

Sakura gave a knowing nod before smiling at Naruto and taking his hand into hers.

Naruto looked up, seeing the hand holding his, curiously, before looking into the eyes of Sakura's.

"Don't worry about it, then. Nee-san tells me that a lot of bad stuff happened to some people because of that war. I don't remember too much about it, but I know things have been bad for some people."

Naruto nodded and gave a small smile.

Seeing him smile, Sakura led him away from her sister and dragged him over to the other two girls.

"Come, let me introduce you to my friends!"

Naruto was shocked by the immediate action but allowed Sakura to lead him toward the others. Upon arrival, the boys seem to come as well and soon all were gathered around Naruto and Sakura as she gave them all an introduction to him.

"This is Naruto Saigu." She said to all of them. "He can't speak, so wait till he finishes writing to hear from him, ok? Naruto, this is Ino Yamanaka, my best friend." She indicated toward the blonde in a matching purple shirt and skirt who hopped off the swing and looked at the other blonde with a curious eye before grinning.

"Hiya!" She said.

Naruto nodded, smiling still.

"This is Tenten, she and the boy with the big eyebrows, Lee, are a year older than us." Sakura continued.

Lee looked away, disheartened about being commented about his eyebrows.

Naruto nodded to them both.

"What's with the eyepatch? Are you playing pirate, or something?" Asked the boy with the fur-rimmed jacket, smirking.

"Kiba! Be nice! Naruto, this is Kiba Inuzuka. Pay him no mind as he acts like a baka most of the time." Sakura said, scowling at the boy.

Kiba bared his teeth at her. "Hey! I do not!"

Sakura ignored his outburst and indicated to the bored-looking boy with his hair done in a pineapple-style.

"That's Shikamaru Nara, we call him Shika, for short. The boy with the chips is Chouji Akamichi; him, Shika, and Ino's dads all are in charge of Konoha."

Naruto nodded, having remembered seeing them at the meeting as it was apparent that they bore similar looks to their children and vice versa.

Sakura continued, "And this boy here with the glasses is Shino Aburame. His dad and Kiba's mom are also on the council for Konoha."

Shino pushed up his glasses and nodded towards Naruto and Kiba just smirked and looked away.

Naruto nodded to them both and then took out his pad and began writing and soon showed it to them all.

"It's nice to meet you all." It said.

Everyone smiled, grinned, or nodded in return.

"So, Naruto." Tenten spoke out, "Did you come here with your parents?"

Naruto shook his head. He began writing again, to which Kiba gave out an exasperated sigh, too loud as Ino elbowed him in the ribs whilst scowling at him.

"Don't be rude, dog-breath."

Before Kiba could retort, Naruto was showing everyone what he wrote.

"No, my parents died during the war. I came with Kurenai-san. I guess you could say she's my Nee-san. I guess."

Everyone nodded.

"I know her. She's really nice, Naruto." Sakura said.

"I do too. She is." Tenten said and Ino simply smiled and nodded in agreement.

Naruto smiled and nodded in appreciation of their approval.

Kiba yawned, "This is nice and all, but can we get back to playing the game?"

Sakura nodded and then turned back to Naruto.

"We're playing "Ninja Wars". Do you know how to play?"

Naruto shook his head.

Sakura and a few others began to tell him the rules and then soon had him placed on Shino and Lee's team.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside, Kurenai was watching Naruto's interaction with the other kids, smiling.

'_Well, at least he's now apart of a large group of friends. I'm happy for you Naruto._' She thought as she took a sip of the warm sake that Risa had been passing out to the people in her house.

Practically everyone inside were the parents, or guardian as it was in Lee and Naruto's case, of the children outside with the exception of a few handfuls.

As soon as Naruto had left her, Kurenai went to the window to observe how he would react towards those his own age. She waited until he interacted and dropped his guard so he would be having fun before turning to those her own age at the makeshift get together.

Other than Risa, she looked around to see if there was anyone else she wanted to talk to when she had spotted Inoichi talking with Tsume Inuzuka and Maito Gai, Lee's adoptive father.

Walking over to them, they stopped their current conversation upon her entering the group.

"Ah, Kurenai, glad to see you. Is Naruto doing alright out there?" Inoichi asked.

Kurenai nodded. "He seems to be doing alright, slowly but surely."

Inoichi nodded. "Well, I think he'll be ok. It might be sudden for him to react with all of them at once, but I'm sure he'll pull through. They're good kids after all."

Kurenai nodded and soon they were joined by Risa as well.

"Sakura seems to taken an instant liking towards him. I know Ino will too, she usually follows Sakura by example and the others all seemed to brighten towards him." Risa said.

Inoichi nodded, "Well then, I think it'll run smoothly. Now that the two of you are here, I want to run something by you to see what you think; since it'll be a big topic I'm going to run by the council in our next session."

"What's that?" Tsume asked.

"Well, Shikaku and I have been discussing about the possibility for the Academy to be reopened to teach our children to become Shinobi once more." Inoichi then paused and looked around at the group.

Tsume sighed, "Well, while I think it's a good idea, I think your biggest problem will be getting everyone on the council to agree with it; the non-shinobi citizens, especially. They'll be the deciding factor."

Kurenai nodded. "Besides that, do we even have anyone who's available to teach? I mean, all our shinobi personnel are either working patrols or out conducting missions. Can we really spare anyone?"

Inoichi smiled and nodded. "Yes, we do. I ran by the numbers and see if we could spare anyone and if so how many for teaching duties. According to the logs, we'd be able to at least spare two people at the most. I personally know of one who'd rather teach than do his patrol duty. Are you familiar with an Iruka Umino?"

Kurenai and Risa both smiled and nodded while Tsume shook her head.

Inoichi addressed Tsume's unfamiliarity towards the man by a description.

"He's a Chuunin whose been patrolling our border with Kusa. He's been begging the council to let him do something other than patrolling and has briefly mentioned a desire to teach. I know a lot of the council members that are regular citizens know him and respect him so he'll be a selling point toward this idea of him teaching their children, possibly."

Kurenai sighed, "That's the thing though, isn't it? How are you going to sell the idea of teaching children to be shinobis when you need the ordinary citizens' approval about it?"

"Well for one," Inoichi said, "Is that currently we've been getting in more orders for work around the village which means that it'd be beneficial to have the three man Genin cells to be working them. Second, are the work orders outside; those two are piling up faster than we can serve them. Then there's another thing that I want you three to keep under your hitae-ates for now…" He sighed and then made sure that his voice was low enough to not draw attention from others, "We've recently gotten word from the Daimyo. He's been getting offers from Suna, Kumo, Tsuchi, and Taki about absolving our village and the land around it into their own."

"What?!" Tsume growled. "Is that old fart really taking those offers seriously?!"

Inoichi sighed, "I'm afraid so. But he is going to let us try to rebuild our image by having us host the Chuunin Exam within a couple of years or so, so by then he'll decide whether or not to take up the offers, whether we're ready or not."

"So we're left with no choice. But how does the Daimyo know that the other countries aren't going to use this as a ploy to try and get at him and expand their lands even further?" Risa asked.

Inoichi nodded, "You raise a good point, Haruno-san. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll be getting an answer about what he thinks as our relationship with him isn't what it used to be. With the Hyugas serving as his court guard, he's not as interested with the goings-on with this village as he used to be. That and the Uchiha Clan being in Rain, he's kind of lost interest."

Kurenai groaned. It wasn't bad enough that they were reminded of their short-comings as a hidden shinobi village, but to remind them of the Daimyo's favoritism when it came to certain clans was like twisting a kunai in an open wound.

"Would it be better if we tried seeking out Jiraya again? He had the ear of the Daimyo at the time, I'm sure if we found him he'd be able to stop this potential merger from happening." Tsume suggested.

Jiraya of the once infamous Sannin, had left the village after the death of his sensei, the Sandaime Hokage, and has yet to return to the village. Him along with his partner, Tsunade Senju, have been absent from the village for seven long years.

Inoichi shook his head. "I know he'd be a good option to take, but I still stand firm in the fact that we'd be wasting resources trying to hunt him down as he'd be with us now if he really wanted to. Losing both his sensei and his pupil in such a short period has done a toll on him. No, we're going to have to settle this ourselves."

Gai, who had been quiet during the entire conversation, which unnerved Kurenai as he was one of the most boisterous people she had ever came across spoke.

"As un-youthful as the Damiyo's being, do you think we could persuade him to give us a different option? Perhaps he'd be willing to send some of his Hyugas here to work for the village and thus generate more wealth for him?"

Inoichi sighed as he shook his head, "We've tried that route before and he's always been in the negative about it. Saying that the Clan was against the idea and that they couldn't risk the danger of something happening to any of their branch members and their Byakugan compromised."

Risa scowled, "They always were stiff about their doujutsu, them and Uchihas."

Inoichi and Tsume nodded in solemn agreement.

* * *

It had been several hours before the early evening kicked in when Kurenai and Naruto had to leave.

Naruto waived goodbye to the new friends he had made, receiving a hug from both Sakura and Ino, and another from Risa, who told him he was always welcomed to come over.

Upon walking back to their house, Kurenai's mind was still wrapped up in the prospect of the village possibly teaching the younger generation to become ninjas again. She pushed it aside as she looked down at Naruto.

"Did you have fun, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at Kurenai, smiling and nodded.

Kurenai smiled too and then thought of the game the children were playing and then a thought came to her.

"Naruto, did you have fun playing "Ninja Wars"?"

Naruto nodded.

"If you're interested, would you like me to teach you how to be a real ninja?"

Naruto's eye brightened and he nodded, excitingly.

Kurenai chuckled and nodded, "Alright. How about tomorrow we'll go over the books you've read and see what you've covered and what we need to work on before we go any further, alright?"

Naruto nodded again, smiling all the more. His eye alive with wonder as he turned away from Kurenai to the path ahead as they continued their way towards their home and, in a way, to an unseen future.

To be continued….

A/N: Apologies to those who find these chapters slow and uneventful. My purpose for writing this is to create an alternative universe and thus basically rewriting the whole Naruto Universe from the start very slowly. Things, hopefully, will pick up in the following chapter but I make no promises as this story is a challenge.

The next chapter will be up within a couple of weeks as I still need to finish the chapters for my others stories that I'm writing.

So be patient and please review after reading the chapter.

Q-n-P


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